Grand Traverse Ski Race from Crested Butte to Aspen

 3/28

Today was the big day! There had been much anxiety, stress, and doubt leading up to the race (Grand Traverse, aka GT) due to the low snow year and unprecedented hot March. Would the race even happen? If it did happen, would there be snow to ski on? 

All these emotions heightened by the fact that the race had been cancelled the previous year due to warm temperatures. Again, I had worked really hard to get in shape for the race, and it would be absolutely crushing for it to be cancelled again. I didn't know if I could do another year if this got cancelled. The whole month of March was mentally challenging as after a very early March storm, a ridge of high pressure (ridge of doom) sat over the Southwest. Not only did it not bring snow, but it brought record high temperatures each day. And not just by a degree or 2, but by up to 12 degrees! It was absolutely crazy. It wasn't even freezing hard at night. We could watch the snow level drop before our very own eyes. I could hardly bare to look outside. I was starting to taper the last 2 weeks, but for my small training runs, I was going at night as I couldn't stand to see the snow melting so quick. Since December 1st, my training had included 309.5 hours = 647.6 miles of ski touring, 103.6 hours = 311.9 miles of cross-country skiing, 8.4 hours = 64.7 miles of skate skiing, 7.3 hours = 53.5 miles of running for a total of 428.8 hours and 1077.7 miles. This also included 268,449 feet of elevation gain during the training.

We were getting various opinions from people as the field teams went out the week before the race. The snow wouldn't support skiers if we didn't get a freeze. Conditions would be unsafe, etc. Avalanche danger was high when it was so hot (wet slab). But others who figured it would go. And the snow on the course was melting fast. First they moved the race start from Crested Butte Mountain Resort to the High School as the snow bridges crossing the east river had collapsed. Then it was going to be 3 miles running on dirt (no snow), then 6 miles, then 8 miles, then 10. First the creek crossings were going to be snowless, but the water now high enough to go over your boots, then calf deep, then knee deep.

There was all sorts of stress. You could see the racers on social media were nervous or even giving up on it happening all together. Zach met one of the directors of safety for the race at the post office in the morning, and he was stressed. Zach helped to walk him back from "the cliff" of no race.

So in the morning I skied out from Gothic to Crested Butte for the pre-race gear check. You have to carry all sorts of safety gear (avalanche probe, beacon, shovel, bivy, stove and fuel, puffy pants and jacket, repair kid, 3L of water, 3000 calories of food, extra skins, 2 headlamps, first aid kit, etc.) since it's a self-supported race over the Elk Range at high elevation that can be frigid, blizzardy, etc and is minimally marked, so you must navigate on your own.

We got our gear checked by Emma. Cam Smith was in front of us in the gear check line, and Zach started his trash talking "This will be the only time we're behind you". For those that don't know, Cam Smith qualified for the Olympics this year in skimo (ski mountaineering) and ended up finishing just off the podium in 4th place in one of his races. He also regularly wins the GT and owns the course record.

After gear check in, it was a buffet lunch and then the race meeting and preliminary race call. The call was "we're going to Aspen". This was exciting, but keep in mind that they said that last year, only to cancel the race 2 hours before it started. We learned at the meeting that we would have 12 miles of snowless trail before we reached the snow and 3 fairly deep stream crossings that would certainly be over ski boots.

After the meeting, we did some last minute prep of gear, and I went to the hostel to try to nap (the race starts at midnight), but was unsuccessful out of nerves and a spinning mind. 

For those who aren't familiar, the GT is a grueling, self-supported 40 mile point to point ski mountaineering race going over 2 high passes (above 12,000ft) and with 20 miles raced above 11,000 feet in the Elk Mountains to reach Aspen from Crested Butte. It gains nearly 7,000 feet of elevation. For safety, it's a partner race where we must carry survival gear including a bivy, stove, sleeping pads, extra down, avalanche rescue gear, etc.  Last year my partner was to be my friend and former Gothic winter caretaker Jack Snow (team Snow Guys), but this year I had stepped it up and had my brother (team Guy bro-skis). We have been on many adventures together in our life, and this certainly would be another one.

If you want to read more about the race, here is a good article about it: https://us.montane.com/blogs/news/the-grand-traverse-a-wild-endurance-race-in-the-rockies?srsltid=AfmBOoo8X1wDEMdyspPnXokHMFSGE46ZFkBGNSPdDb6-5sX-009e0R8-

11pm came and went and still no news that they were canceling the race. So we gathered up our packs, lashed our skis and boots to our packs, and headed to the start line at the high school. Looking around the high school cafeteria, I figured I was very outclassed. Everyone had fancy skimo gear. Spandex suits, special helmets and glasses, super lightweight boots, etc. I was thinking, maybe we could finish in the top 50. Originally, when I first signed up for the GT with Jack, I just wanted to finish. There are 2 timed cut-off locations, where if you are too slow they turn your around back to Crested Butte. Last year I had been stressed about making the cut off times. This year, when I asked Zach, he had said he would do it, but he wanted to try to finish in the top 10. I said, okay, but I was highly doubtful. After training hard, I was thinking it might be possible to finish in the top 20, but now looking at all these folks in their fancy gear and me in my heavier (and often janky) backcountry gear, I figured we didn't have much chance. I was actually skiing in my heavy touring boots, though my boss did lend me an ancient pair of lightweight skimo skis.

At 11:45 we headed out for the beacon check, then the free-heeler blessing. It was a horde of people with their skis and boots on their packs. Someone said that watching the start reminded them of a horde of orks going to battle. Bro positioned us up near the front. He hadn't been running at all, I me just a little bit, so the plan was to jog the beginning (through the end of the snow storage area to the start of the deli trail) and then fast walk the next 11 miles to the snow.

After the start of the run, we were doing pretty well, maybe in 4th place, and we could see Cam just about 100m ahead of us. This continued for the first 3 miles. I was thinking that we must be doing something wrong, going out too hard and that we'd blow up later. I've never done a long endurance race before, so I knew little of pacing. But being close to Cam, I could tell Bro was getting "yellow jersey fever" and that it was going to be a long night of racing, meaning we were going to actually race.

Here's what I wrote my boss after the race:

"It ended up being such a crazy and memorable event. So many times through the night I was thinking this is just so crazy. Zach, who hates running, had said, "let's jog the first 1/4 mile until the deli trail and then let's fast walk the rest of the way." Well when we got into the pinch point of the deli trail we kind of had to keep running. Then when we got to the paved road, we could see Cam, and Zach was like, there's a pickleball court up here, we need to catch Cam so I can trash talk (Zach bested him in some pickleball tournament a few years ago). So we hustled to catch him, and it's feeling surreal bc we're chatting with and trash talking a bit with this Olympian. And we're looking at his tiny pack and wondering, where the heck does he even have ski boots in there. At mile 4 or so, they have to stop to pee, so now we're in the lead. And I could tell Zach was getting yellow jersey fever, so I knew I was in for a long night. And I was also thinking, we're doing something terribly wrong. Like why are we running with the lead 4 teams? We're totally going to blow up. Eventually Cam passed us when we tried to eat some stuff and slowed down, but we passed them again at mile 12 right before the last river crossing. We had the lead for 5 or so minutes, and it was just the craziest thing. Last year I remember being stressed about making the cutoff times, and now here we were. We were then into that sorta wild skin track going up and over logs and following a fresh mountain lion track for a couple of miles (prints looked like they were put in during the heat of the day that afternoon). Then we arrived to you [my boss Steve] at friends hut and it seemed so early. At that point I was still thinking that I had no idea how to ski anything past 20 miles, and let's just see if we can make it up Star Pass. Zach started getting bad stomach issues and slowed down a lot, but I was able to coax him up with the thought of Jake at the top. He seemed to recover on the descent, but did have stomach issues most of the race. When we got to Star and saw no other lights below, I started to believe that maybe, just maybe we could finish top 10, guessing people would still catch us. We also started to laugh thinking about what our friends would be waking up to with the live tracker. It's 5 am, mom and Elisha are up, it's 5:30, Sophia is up, etc. We felt great between star and Taylor. We definitely regretted not skating Taylor flats. I had no idea what the course was like up there. Zach bikes up there a lot and considered sking, but we didn't. At the very end we saw Cam and Logan's skate tracks, and we were like dang. It was such slow skinning as the snow was like velcro. When we got to Taylor pass, we were losing a little spirit. Two teams were catching us (father-daughter and the Aspen team). We had 5 minutes on them at the pass, but by the 2nd big hill on Richmond ridge it was down to 2 minutes ahead of the Aspen group. We were just following the route but I think they were picking better lines (they had done the race 15 times and said they knew every rock and stump on the Aspen side). At the last water station (Opus Hut?) Zach stopped for water and a chat with someone there. I think he didn't know they were right behind us. Right as we were about to leave they passed us. Now in my mind we needed to just keep strong enough to keep 3rd. I figured these guys had caught us and passed, so they were more fit. Zach said to just keep pressure on them in case they made a mistake. But on the next climb we caught them. We then went back and forth with them for several miles and even chatted with them. We'd beat them going up, then they'd catch us on the transitions and pass us. But Zach enjoyed being behind them on the downs as they picked better "local" lines as the Richmond trail/cat track was a frozen nightmare. We were going back and forth a lot, and I was thinking in my head, "man the Guy bros are really in a dog fight." During the whole of Richmond Ridge we (or at least I) didn't eat or drink because to do so would cost time. We eventually got to a point where they weren't passing us on the transitions and then there was a long skate where we put a lot of time on them, and I was starting to feel really good about beating them. Neither of us knew how long it was until Richmond ended, but unfortunately we had saved too much in the tank when we saw the lifts. We could have pushed it harder the last mile and really put time in them. 

We made several mistakes at the end that cost us. At the end, Richmond Ridge did some S curves that we followed, but then we saw you could have just gone straight (10-15 secs there). When we got to the resort there were 2 patrollers that happened to be just getting off the lift. We figured they had to check our leash system. So we called over to them and asked them to check, but they didn't know anything about it. We hooked on our leashes, but I was using Paracord and one of my loops had been cut off on the ice, so we had to re-tie. Turns out there was no check for leashes and the team that got 2nd still had their leashes duct taped to their skis when they finished, so they didn't even stop for that. That was another 30-60 secs for us. We looked back, didn't see them, so we said, "we're good skiers, the only way we screw this up is we crash or go off course". So we said let's ski conservatively. The top flats are a bit confusing of where to go, so we weren't just pointing and going down we were making turns and figuring it out. When we got to the narrow gulch we ran into 4 snowcats grooming. It was sketchy but we managed to pass them, but we slowed a ton. We looked back and still didn't see them. I was starting to get tears welling up in my eyes due to the emotion of how well we were doing/had one. We got by the cats and to Kleenex corner. There was a groomed run to the right Zach started to go down and I yelled hard at him not to. When I've skied Aspen before that was always roped off and I figured it wasn't roped at the moment as the mtn wasn't open yet and the cats were going that way. So Zach had to side step up and I stopped. Being below the cats and the fresh groom, the slopes were terribly icy, so at Kleenex corner we went really wide into the east facing sun slope to hopefully find softer snow. When we did that I heard a loud noise and saw the other team straight lining it down the ice at a speed I would have been uncomfortable with in skimo skis. So they passed us at that dirt spot you can see in the video of Benn and Tyler (200 or so yards from the finish)

It was a bit disheartening to have it happen at the end, but we were still pretty stoked. If I could relive the last 15 minutes I would have pushed the last 10 minutes of Richmond hard as we were feeling good being in the heat of a race and they were faltering. And then I would have pushed it on the downhill instead of enjoying the groomer with wide turns like we did. But it's all good in the end! The team that got us at the end said they took a different, more direct route down the mtn, some steep icy black that allowed them to get us in their sights and then they had the ability to chase us. The guys that beat us were nice and pointed to our boots and said if we had gear like theirs, (they're also sponsored professionals) it wouldn't have been close, haha 

But wow, what a crazy event. And nothing I expected to happen at all. I almost still can't believe it. Not in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that"

This is one of my happiest moments! Finishing on the podium in one of North America's premier Ski Mountaineering races with my brother as my partner. Having Zach as my partner made it extra sweet!

Due to the record low snow, this year's race was an extra adventure. We had to run the first 12 miles with boots and skis on our already heavy packs until we reached snow. We also had 3 pretty deep river crossings to navigate as the snow bridges had collapsed with the warm temps. The temps had finally dropped, but this made the downhill skiing basically horrendous as it felt like skiing on coral down the sun affected, frozen snow.

Some highlights included passing Cam at mile 12 and taking the lead in the race, while Zach did some friendly trash talking towards him about pickleball (Zach beat him in a pickleball tournament), following fresh mountain lion tracks for 2 miles on the trail, having my boss be utterly surprised when I arrived to Friends Hut, just below Star Pass so early ('You guys are killing it! Cam has only 8 minutes on you!), and watching the sunrise from Taylor Flats with several 14ers lighting up pink.

Oh, and we were awarded the unofficial "heavyweight" award for finishing with the heaviest equipment. We were skiing with our normal touring boots, not the featherweight skimo boots that skimo racers have. And we had no skin suits. We're powder skiers after all! And ones that can't afford the fancy and expensive skimo equipment, haha.

When I first started ski touring several years ago, I struggled on the uphills so much. I never wanted to do a second lap. I would have thought it impossible to do a race like the GT. My goal last year was to just make the cut-off times and finish and this year to finish in the top 50 (though towards the end of my training I thought top 20 could have been possible until I saw all the kitted out skimo people at the race). So you can imagine my surprise when we went over Star and Taylor Passes in 2nd and hours ahead of the cut off times! My mom, Elisha, and others following the race via GPS trackers were shocked when they woke up and checked the map. Mom and Elisha showered us with champagne when they arrived to Aspen.

We ended up finishing in 8 hours 34 minutes and 35 seconds. The team that edged us out finished in 8 hours 34 minutes and 25 seconds. Cam (and his partner Logan) finished in 7 hours 23 minutes and 53 seconds. The team that got 4th (father-daughter co-ed team) finished in 9 hours 16 minutes and 23 seconds and the next men's team behind us finished in 9 hours 28 minutes and 12 seconds, almost a full hour behind us. The team that finished 10th overall finished in 10 hours 21 minutes and 12 seconds. The team that finished 50th completed the course in 13 hours, 32 minutes and 48 seconds. Benn (the other winter caretaker) and his partner Tyler finished 44th in 12 hours and 59 minutes and 03 seconds.

We finished so early that there wasn't really many people around to congratulate us. Just Cam's team and a few race organizers. Despite such a long race and expending so much energy, we weren't really hungry when we finished, so we didn't hit the food bar right away. Zach was feeling pretty rough, probably b/c it's really hard to run 12 miles if you haven't been running. He could hardly walk. I actually felt pretty good and was walking pretty normal. I had gotten a cramp on my inner thigh at the end of Richmond Ridge, which I had to manage.

Mom and Elisha had no idea that we'd finish so quick, so they got there 45-60 minutes after we finished. They were SO EXCITED, which really made me feel good. It was nice to have some cheerleaders there. They had brought champagne, and we popped the cork to celebrate. They told us about how surprised they had been when they checked the GPS race tracking and that they had an exciting drive rooting for us.

After relaxing a bit with them there, we headed to the recovery lounge, which had some more food and yoga mats to lay on with rollers for muscle recovery. Mom and Elisha used the rollers to help us roll out our muscles and stretch. We then went back to the finish where we had to wait a while for the awards ceremony.

At the awards ceremony it was cool to stand next to an Olympian and receive a check for $200 (I've never won money in a race before!). We also each were given a really fancy pair of Evil Eye sunglasses (probably worth $300 for making the podium).

After the race we drove through Carbondale to Redstone as we were to be staying at Avalanche Ranch Hotsprings in the sheepherders wagons. We checked in and soaked in the hot springs. We then drove back to Carbondale to eat a delicious Thai meal. Then it was back to the hot springs for more soaking and beers before retiring to the wagons. Elisha and I were in the Gypsy wagon and mom and bro in the Waves wagon. I had been up since 8am or so the day before, so I slept 10.5 hours that night!

3/29

We soaked more in the morning before driving back to Crested Butte. On the way, we stopped at City Market in Gunnison. Zach was still really sore and having trouble walking, so he used the electric shopping cart to get around. When we got back to CB, Mary and Zach prepared a yummy Thai dumpling soup with wine to celebrate. Elisha and I then had to ski back into Gothic.

Here is the Crested Butte News story about the GT this year https://crestedbuttenews.com/2026/04/smith-and-greydanus-run-wade-and-ski-to-grand-traverse-title/

Winter in Gothic (2nd half)

 2/5

I had a big day of skiing--a quadrathlon.  I cross-country skied early in the morning to CB. I then downhill skied at CBMR for 2 hours before heading down to the nordic center to skate for 90 minutes with a skate ski lesson (the nordic center was offering free skate lessons). I then went back to the mountain to downhill ski for 2 hours. After the resort closed, I visited Bro and Ellis for a bit and then I ski-mo'd up to the top of Paradise (beautiful sunset). I then xc skied back to Gothic under beautiful stars

2/6

Olympics started!

2/8

After a ski tour up the valley, we hosted a Super Bowl party with Benn and Sophia

2/9

Elisha and I skied toured up to Copper Lake and then up to the top of East Maroon Pass.

2/10

I did a long ski up to Schofield Pass and then up the 401 trail. From the top of the 401 trail I skied now powder down to the West Maroon Pass. I then descended down to the trailhead in Schofield park before ascending back up to Schofield Pass and then skiing across Emerald Lake and down the canyon back to the East River drainage. It ended up being 15.16 miles.

We've been watching the Olympics as we subscribed to NBC for the month to watch.

2/11

We started to get some heavy snow, so I did 3 powder laps. I lost my phone in the powder on a jump when it fell out of my pocket. But luckily I used my headphone which connect via bluetooth to get near the phone. Once I started hearing music in my headphones, I knew I was in the vicinity. Then I used my watch's "find my phone" function to make my phone ring. It was buried a foot in the powder and wouldn't have been able to find it without those helpful devices.

2/12

It snow a foot overnight. Elisha skied 2 laps with me, and then I skied 2 more. It was a super heavy snow, like an April snow, so it was beautiful in the aspens, as it stuck to the aspens. Unfortunately the greenhouse effect with the the fog really heated the area up by my 4th lap. The snow started to really glop on my skis so I was lifting incredibly heavy skis. I don't know if it was that or skiing in the heavy snow, but somehow I pulled my quadricep. I was feeling really bummed as I've worked myself to be in incredible shape for my race, and I had a lot of things planned in the next few days, so I was pretty bummed.

2/13 (Friday the 13th).

Because of my quad injury, I just sat on the couch and iced my leg all day. In the evening, Elisha and I skied out to Crested Butte to go to Ryce (we had a gift certificate) to celebrate Valentine's Day. We stayed in the hostel overnight.

2/14

Happy Valentine's Day

Jake and his son Asher and Asher's 2 friends had skied at Monarch the day before, and they met me at the 4-way in town early in the morning. I skied 4 runs with the 3 boys at CBMR. I skied super guarded because of my injury. It was okay on blue runs, but when I tried the steeper International, it hurt. I was relieved that Jake wasn't skiing because after showing the boys the layout of the mountain I met Jake who had gotten a coffee at the Coffee Lab and we headed to town. We skied 2 laps of the town loop, which has such beautiful views of all the mountains and is a flat, easy ski. We then watched the Gators beat Kentucky at Pitas over some happy hour food and beer. 

At the end of the day we picked the boys up from the ski area and then we cooked pizzas and watched the Olympics in the hostel and had some deep talks.

2/15

I got up super early (4:15am) to ski with Bro as Forerunners (basically breaking trail and making sure the route was set up) for the Snodgrass to Top of the World portion of the Gothic Mountain Tour Race. I started ahead of Bro (and late joiner Jake Barron) since my quad was injured. They had planned to skate from Snodgrass to Gothic and I couldn't skate. But they had a little bit of a boot problem, and I just cruised, so I ended up getting to the 403 far before them. It was sub zero, and I had to wait for 40 minutes for them to get to me. It was so cold that all of us had our hydration systems freeze. It was a gorgeous sunrise though with the frosted bushes. (Jake Hess told me he had a great sunrise xc ski on Rudy's Rollers with the frosty willows that glittered to him like trees with Christmas lights). When I met them, we began the ascent up to the Top of the World. Top of the World of course has beautiful 360 views of the snowy mountains. We then descended via Washington Gulch and we all met up (including with the Hesses and Mary and Ellis) at Butte Bagels for celebratory bagels.

I then helped load all of the Hess' gear from the hostel and we headed up to Snodgrass. I pulled in the sled full of gear and we skied into Gothic. After some tasty lunch that Elisha made and some chilling, Jake and I did a sunset xc ski upvalley to the 403. We had a tacho bar for dinner and then watched the Olympics.

2/16

I had a chill day to try to rest and let my quad heal. I skied the sled out for Jake and his crew. I met mom at the trailhead and hung out with her for a bit after saying goodbye to Jake. Mom had brought a lot of food and items for us, so I pulled them back into Gothic.

2/17

We woke up to Con 1 style blizzard. It was crazy windy! So windy we couldn't have a fire, so had a cold cabin. It was snowing hard, but a lot of the snow got blown away. I still skied 4 laps up on Aspen Alley in decent pow.

2/18

We woke up to High Avalanche danger and a foot of snow. I skied 3 laps over at the 403 in heavy falling snow. High Avalanche danger means we're not allowed to ski on Gothic Road or out to town

2/19

Still under High Avalanche danger. We woke up to more snow, and some on and off snow showers. We skied a couple of laps up by Deer Creek trail. We also watched local CB resident Cam Smith in the skimo sprint race

2/20

More heavy snow and blizzard conditions. I skied 3 laps up on Mt Bellview's shoulder and then a 403 lap

2/21

Elisha and I skied a couple of laps below Avery Peak and then did a 403 lap. We came home and watched Cam Smith and Anna's mixed relay skimo race. We then cross country skied out (Avalanche danger went down to considerable) to town to watch Bro and Mary in their Move the Butte Dances with mom. Zach was in an Eminem complication dance and Mary and Zach in a Bad Bunny dance. 

The ski out was interesting. We had to break trail a good chunk of the way due to the last storms. But after breaking trail for a bit over a mile, we came upon moose tracks. The moose then proceeded to break trail and post hole for 2 miles.

It was really cold (below 0), so Elisha stayed in town, and I did a frosty ski back into Gothic. It was also slow as there still wasn't much of a trail, and it was really cold.

2/22

I skied 3 laps up below Avery peak early in the morning and then skied out towards town to meet mom and Elisha who were skiing in. Mom made it, despite the tough snow conditions and stayed the night. We had lettuce wraps and some deep discussions.

2/23

I skied 2 laps early in Aspen Alley and then we all skied out to town. Mom took us to a Thai place in Gunnison, we shopped, and then I skied a little run (part of the Gothic Mountain Traverse) to reach Gothic road where I then took over the sled.

2/24

So warm today! But also windy. I skate skied out and back twice to Snodgrass Trailhead. It was a bit brutal with the headwind and slow, warm snow.

2/26

I did a long ski up to Rustler's Gulch where I skied a couple of laps

2/27

I skied a couple of laps up on the shoulder of Mt. Bellview

2/28

I skied up to a small summit above Rustler's Gulch and skie another cool area I hadn't been to before

3/1

I skied into town and met Elisha (who is in town to help out at Scarp Ridge Lodge), Mary, and Ellis. I then did a run before skiing back into town.

Unfortunately I dropped my phone checking a cabin, and broke the screen.

3/2

I did my first tour of the year up the sluice and up to the little peak above the sluice

3/4

I did a nice tour with good snow up East Maroon Pass.

3/7

Snowed a bit, and I did some powder skiing on Snodgrass

3/9

Bro fat-tire biked out, and we did a really nice tour up one of Gothic's cirques. Both good powder skiing on north-facing aspects and corn on southerly aspects

I then skied out (via snodgrass) to CB because Elisha had been working at Eleven. They let her stay in one of the Eleven apartments, so I skied out to stay with her, which was nice

3/10

To get back to Gothic I skied from Washington Gulch, up and over Abby Lane to get to Gothic. It was funny because I was ski touring with a gallon of milk, some fruit and other food, and 3 DVD's from the library. Not your average ski tour!

3/11

I did a long (15+miles) ski tour up to Copper Lake and then over East Maroon Pass and then 3 laps on soft North Facing snow on the Aspen side of the divide in a really cool area!

3/12

I skied into town early morning to join a CHESS workshop from my fieldwork this summer. We were working on data processing and analysis. We had Matt Santor's new deli company cater lunch and then the project took us out to eat at Sherpas. 

After dinner I skied 2 laps up on the mountain before staying at the hostel (aka the hibernaculum)

3/13 Friday the 13th!

Another day at the CHESS workshop. They took us out to lunch at delicious Thai Smile. I skied a lap on the mountain before heading back into Gothic. In a first I skated the whole way in with my touring skis while pulling a sled!

3/14

I did a lap on Zachary's and half a lap on dust on crust, which had some nice south facing corn

3/15

It was cold and extremely windy overnight. We lost power, and I had to reset some breakers in our ski huts. Since the road was frozen solid, I went for a run to Snodgrass TH and back. About 2 miles away I CAUGHT the gunnison county electric utilities snowcat who was out to fix a downed electrical wire. Felt good to run faster than a snowcat!

3/16

I did my last and longest ski tour. I skied up to Schofield pass, then up to the 401, then down into West Maroon Drainage, then up until about 1 mile from the West Maroon Pass summit (turned around due to approaching darkness. In the end it was 18.37 miles in 5 hours and 5 minutes with 3774 feet of elevation gain. I felt really good and was able to speedily skate back to the cabin. It only took 45 minutes to get from Schofield pass back to Gothic!

3/17

Zach, Sam, and I skied the Spork run off of the summit of Gothic. I skied up to the Snodgrass/Gothic Ridge (Abby Lane) and then skied down to Washington Gulch to meet Zach and Sam before we skinned, then boot-packed up to the summit. The Spork is incredibly steep and has a very narrow chute, but it was a lot of fun!

3/18

We installed some black tarps for Amy Iller's project. The tarps help to melt snow earlier than normal to simulate climate change for her flower projects.

I met my forme GT partner, Jack Snow, at CBMR to ski a lap together on the mountain. Then I walked across the road and up the hill where we were having dinner and a sleepover with Tom and Donna, some of our best friends in CB, which we laugh about as they could be our parents. They served an amazing dinner with raw salmon appetizers and artichokes. Then delicious corn beef and hash in honor of St. Patrick's day. They also made some strong Margaritas. We hot-tubbed on their deck under the stars at night.

Their house is a huge and beautiful mansion up on top of the hill looking across at Mt. CB. Definitely stunning. We met them b/c Donna volunteered with me while I was working for RMBL on the invasive species project. Since they live in the town of Mt CB, like we do, we often see them at town picnics and events. They're really cool. Donna is into weeds, fly-fishing, painting, and her greenhouse. Tom has lots of hobbies including guitar, fishing, 3-D printing, dressing up as a yeti and making igloos. They also have a cool airstream outback.

3/19

We went to Gunnison for some shopping, and I hung out at the library and went for a run. IT HAS BEEN INCREDIBLY HOT. INSANELY HOT.

3/20

Jack, Elsa (newly engaged), and Elsa's parents skied out to Gothic and brought us tasty Butte Bagels for lunch. It was great to catch up with them. They'll be getting married in Maine in 2027.

3/23

I skied out to CB and did a speedy skin up to the top of Mt CB, where I saw my usual friend up there, the fox. We stayed overnight at the hostel after visiting Zach, Mary, and Ellis and then using a gift card to eat at Thai Smile

3/24

I helped Neil Losin, a filmographer (he filmed billy's Snow Guardian feature), sled in hundreds of pounds of camera equipment. He'll be doing a longer film here at Gothic.

You can learn more about Neil here: https://www.neillosin.com/

Winter in Gothic (part 1)

I finally had a chance to go through last year's calendar and tally up some stats from last caretaking winter.

I kept track of the number of times I backcountry skied (alpine touring) and cross-country skied (skiing almost daily for work to do the rounds wasn't included). I also included the number of times I skied into town.

Nov.    8 cross country 2 back country 1 town trip

Dec.    13 xc 18 bc 9 town trip (Christmas time = lots of events in town)

Jan.     10 xc 28 bc 3 town trips

Feb.    11 xc 22 bc 3 town trips

Mar.    4 xc 29 bc 3 town trips

Apr     4 xc 1 bc                    1 town trip (we were in Morocco for most of Aprl)

May    1 xc 1 bc 0 town trips (due to the low snow year, there wasn't much snow left on the road in May

For a total of 51 cross country skis, 101 back country skis and 17 trips to town

11/16

The Bruhaus, which is normally way too expensive (and I would never go there) has been offering 25c wings and $10 pitchers of beer, so we joined Zach and Mary for wings and a Broncos game. 

11/23

We've been working on getting the cabins ready for winter, putting on shutters and such. There's been a little snow, but not much. It's been the least snowiest November on record for billy after the least snowiest September and October on record. One of the cool things we saw while doing cabin closing was a beautiful white short-tailed weasel. We also got a pack-rat in a trap.

We went to the Bruhaus for more 25c wings and cheap pitchers with Benn and Sophia.

11/24

Mom arrived to Crested Butte for Thanksgiving

11/25

We drove out to Mount Crested Butte for the town Thanksgiving. It was delicious as always. This year was much different as last year we had to ski in during a big an deep storm. 

11/26

Zach and Ellis came over for dinner with us in Gothic, and we played some games

11/27 Happy Thanksgiving!

To work up an appetite pre Thanksgiving I ran from Gothic to Pitchfork in Mt CB where Zach and Mary live. We had a good Thanksgiving and then played some games afterwards

11/30

We finally got some good snow. Zach picked me up and we were still able to drive up in his Subaru to Schofield Pass (though it was pretty deep). We then did a ski tour up to the top of Mount Belleview. 

After I got back from the ski tour, Elisha and I headed down to the Bruhaus to watch the Broncos and get 25c wings. Zach eventually joined us.

12/2

It snowed pretty good again and Zach, Elisha, and I went to CB to play volleyball at the high school.

12/4

We went to town to go to a improv musical comedy show called Fa la la la ha ha at the Center for the Arts with bro. But first we went to dinner at Sherpa Cafe with Benn, Sophia, Tyler, and Berry. 

On the way in we rigged up a rope on the old RMBL ford explorer, and Elisha towed me out of Gothic as I skied the powder on the road. Coming back at night, I also got towed in. As it was a full moon and super bright, I could ski without lights, no problem. Lots of fun! We've been using the explorer complete with chains on all 4 tires to go in and out of Gothic as there is a decent amount of snow on the road (18-ish inches), but the county hasn't closed it yet. 

12/5

This morning Gothic road officially closed! A lot later than normal, but now we're back to isolated living where we'll have to ski to go in and out. Elish and I did a ski tour up by the Gothic campground.

12/6

We got over a foot of snow overnight. I did a big ski tour up on Snodgrass (2nd bowl and Abby Lane) with bro and Jake. As soon as I got back, I had a quick bite to eat and then we skied into town. We went to the little Christmas tree lighting and festivities on Elk Ave. It felt just like a Hallmark Christmas tree. The road was blocked off and covered in snow, there were carolers and cocoa, and people dressed for the cold and the season, and it was snowing. We were mostly there to go to our realtor's Christmas party. It was nice. Lots of really good food and drinks, including cocktails, all free. 

After filling ourselves up, we headed to the Center for the Arts for CBAC's Avalanche Awareness night and fundraiser. It was a good time. Bro made a really good movie and also gave a talk. There were also several other speakers and a big raffle. We sat with B-rad from my summer CHESS team. We skied back home under a bright moon (so we didn't need headlamps) and fresh snow. We arrived home just after midnight.

12/7

I skied 3 laps of fresh powder up on Snodgrass. We watched the Skimo olympic qualifier race in which Cam Smith (A Crested Buttian) and his partner were competing. They needed to beat the Canadians to qualify for the Olympics. They did this handily and also dominated and won the whole race. It was funny because this fall, we saw Cam training on Mount Crested Butte when we were at the summit of the mountain looking at the fall colors view. He came running up guides ridge, past us at the summit, and kept running down.

12/8

Elisha and I skied a lap up on the 403

12/9

Benn, Sophia, Elisha, and I skied up the Avery peak trail torwards Virginia basin to cut our Christmas trees. We then skied the trees down on a sled and decorated them. I also carved a pumpkin that Benn and Sophia had given us from a farm near Paonia. I carved a Christmas tree, nativity star, and snowman onto the pumpkin.

12/10

I did 2 laps up Snodgrass, but it's super warm. Record breaking temps for December. In the evening Elisha made cookies, and I set up the snow village.

12/11

We skied out to town to run some errands.  I needed to get my boots punched out to get some base repair done on my skis. Check the mail, etc. We then went to a RMBL Christmas party at the hostel, which they just recently bought from Eleven (small world eh?). They're calling it something foolish and tech bro like RMBL365. I've been calling it the nest. Or maybe I should say the den? or the hive? Anyways, it was a cookie and book exchange. Some yummy cookies for sure and some interesting books. After that party we headed up the hill to Mt CB to go to the adaptive sports Christmas party. They had delicious cocktails, food, and desserts, all for free. As well as some live music. There were some people we knew there, so it was fun to chat. But also we sat at the table with Cam Smith, Crested Butte's newest Olympian! It was fun to hear his story. I skied back under starlight. The stars were magnificent!

12/12

I skied back into town to pick up my boots, but more importantly for the Great Clawdia Heist of 2025. Clawdia, who we had cat-sat before, was in need of someone to cat sit her for most of the rest of the winter. Her owner, had to go into rehab and the current person taking care of her was going to be moving and had a mean pitbull. Technically cats (pets really) aren't allowed in RMBL. This is because they have the high likelihood of disrupting the research: eating marmots or squirrels, peeing and pooping on plants and soil, etc. etc. So they've made a blanket rule of no pets. This seems a bit crazy in the winter when there isn't much research out here and when the place is buried under feet of snow. We asked our supervisor, and he said he wouldn't care, but that we should keep it quiet so as not to upset anyone. 

Today was the day we planned to ski her in. And would you believe it? Our supervisor's supervisor decided to ski up valley as a training ski (From Snodgrass Trailhead to Rustlers). I ran into him as I was skiing out. This meant it was a high likelihood we'd see him on our ski in. And we weren't even sure the best way to transport Clawdia in as we figured it would be traumatic for her. She already doesn't like riding in cars. We had thought about holding her. We thought about putting her in a backpack and carrying her on our front. Or just putting her in a sled in her cage. It was made all the more tricky by there often being dogs on the trail and with the recent unseasonably warm weather that was hard frozen from a cold night making the trail very icy and fast for the downhills. 

In the end we put her in the sled in her cage and covered her up with a blanket so no one could tell we had a cat. And the plan was, if we saw our head boss, to just ski quickly by him (so he wouldn't here her meow if she did) and say I had a meeting to get to (true, as I actually had 2 zoom meetings scheduled). In the end, we only passed one guy, who did have a dog. I was ready with my pole to go after the dog if it did anything to the sled, but it didn't. We didn't run into our head boss in the end. I pulled her the final way up the hill, with 7 minutes to spare before my first meeting. We let her out, and she immediately began exploring. She has found her favorite perch already. It's out over some beams that we have laid a mattress we don't use. It gives her height (just like a cougar likes), she has a good view, and it's warm and often in the sun. Welcome to Gothic Clawdia!

12/16

We skied into town in the evening to have dinner with Zach, Mary, and Ellis at The Gourmet Noodle restaurant as they were having a really good locals meal deal. We then played some volleyball in the rec league before spending the night at the Hostel in town. RMBL owns the hostel now (which I call the nest or the den), so we can stay there.

12/17

Skied back in from town. Then watched several Christmas movies! (The Grinch, Elf, and Home Alone)

12/18

We skied out of Gothic to head to Colorado Springs. There had been a big windstorm the night before, so there were a few downed trees across the road. It's been an insanely warm, dry, and extra windy December. It's been one of the lowest snow seasons on record so far and the temperatures have been 20+F warmer than average. That's really crazy! That means highs in the 60s in Denver. Yikes!

When we got to the Springs, we met Elisha's friend Sarah for a really great happy hour. $3 margaritas and fancy tacos! We then went to Aunt Hope and Uncle Pete's retirement community and a tour before meeting Cousin Jill and Rick and their daughter Jessica for a yummy Chinese Dinner. Next it was on to Jake and Elya's to spend the night. Jake and Elya have added one more person to their family as they are fostering a refugee from Guatemala.

12/19

We hung out in the Springs with Jake and his family. Took a walk and played some basketball.

In the afternoon we hopped in our cars to drive up I-70 to Georgetown in order to take the Christmas train. But again, it was super windy. When we got to Idaho Springs, the power was out in the whole town (due to the energy companies shutting off power to avoid fires if electrical poles got blown down). When we got to Georgetown, it was the same scenario. The hotel that Jake and his family were to be staying in was completely dark. No power, not heat (they changed their reservation to stay in Summit County). BUT...we were very lucky in that the far end of Georgetown had power as it's where the jail for the county was and they had to keep power on, so the train and its lights would be running! We had dinner at a brewery near the hotel that was open because it had a generator.

After dinner and brews we headed to the train. The train was really fun. It chugged along Christmas lights and little lit up villages. They served charcuterie and drinks and of course Santa came by. The train was also decorated really nicely. At the end we visited Mrs. Claus' shop for cookies and hot cocoa.

After the train we drove down to Nate Dub's place in Denver.

12/20

We met mom and dad at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to watch an IMAX video called "Ocean Paradise" about Palmyra Atoll, Johnson Atoll, and Midway Island. Very beautiful underwater scenes. Then Elisha and I visited the museum including the special exhibits of elephants and legos.

We met mom and dad again the the late afternoon for dinner at the 16th street mall. After a yummy dinner we went to one of those candlelight music performances. It was at a beautiful old church downtown, and it was a string quartet playing the Nutcracker and other Christmas music, surrounded by candles. After the amazing musical performance, we walked to the City and County building, which is always lit up beautifully. Then we walked down to near union station to go to the Christmas market and the really cool xcel tree that is lit up with an amazing amount of lights that twinkle and move to Christmas music.

12/21 Happy Winter Solstice (but it's still way tooo hot)

Nate, Elisha, and I met Liz (former boss in Antarctica) and Alex at the Machine bar near Nate's house for some pre-game drinks. Then we walked to Mile High Stadium to watch the Broncos play the Jaguars. The whole experience being at the game with the pre-game and festivities was a lot of fun, but unfortunately the Donkeys played poorly and we lost. 

After the game we went out for tacos with Liz and Alex and then spent the night at their house.

12/22

We drove back to Crested Butte and skied back into Gothic to see Clawdia.

12/24

We skied into town in the evening, pulling a sled full of gifts. We had appetizers and won ton soup at Zach and Mary's with my parents and Chris & Cheese and Sam. We then skied back home with a touch of snow falling

12/25

It snowed today (2"), but first it rained a little bit. This is INSANE! It's never rained in December here, and before that, the latest rain was very early November. The weather is just crazy this year. Hopefully this isn't the new normal. So depressing has this winter been. Hardly any snow, insanely high temperatures, and now rain.

We skied into town for Christmas dinner (Fondue) and fancy cocktails at Zach and Mary's with mom and dad. Of course we also watched "Love Actually", my dad's favorite Christmas movie.

12/26

We skied back out to town to go to Slogars for family style chicken dinner for Mary's birthday. We then went to Zach and Mary's before skiing back.

12/27

The road is so packed down and hard from lack of snow that I actually RAN as my workout to Snodgrass and back. The good news was that it was in heavy snow.

12/28

We got 7.5" of snow overnight, so I did my first ski tour (on Snodgrass) in quite a while

12/29

We also finally got some cold weather. Perhaps the first time below 0 this winter, which is very unusual.

12/30

Elish and I did a good ski tour out by the 403

12/31  New Year's Eve

I skied a lap on fresh snow on Snodgrass and then Elisha met me on Gothic road and we skied into Mount CB to watch the torchlight parade and fireworks show. It's always really cool. We then went down to the hostel and chilled for a bit before going to CB South for an all you can eat crab fest with Zach and Alex (from Durango). I just got a burger because I've had a few times where I puked after eating a bunch of crab, and I figured it wasn't worth it to pay $35 to puke.

After dinner, Zach headed out dancing, and Elisha and I headed back to the mountain. We skinned up the resort to enjoy some ciders up on the mountain and then have a nearly full moon ski back down. When all you ski is backcountry snow, it's sometimes fun to get to rip down the hill on a fresh groomed corduroy. 

We rung in the New Year watching some Nate Bargatze and then watching more fireworks from town. We stayed the night at the hostel.

1/1/26 Happy New Year!

We skied back in to Gothic is a decent snowstorm by going a different way than normal. Instead of taking the road, we skinned up Snodgrass and then descended down 4th bowl. It was perfect timing as just 100 meters in front of us on the road when we reached the road were Mary, Lisa (Mary's mom) and Ellis (who was having a bit of a breakdown. Elisha went on ahead to get the fire going in the cabin, and I pulled the sled for Mary. Zach joined later.

We had a cozy hangout time: tea, fire, spaghetti with homemade sauce, games (code names), and then watched a movie. The whole crews stayed the night

1/2

It snowed pretty good overnight and Zach and I did a really great run down 3rd bowl. I then did 2 more laps on 4th bowl before I skied into CB to meet Elisha, Benn, and Sophia for the new RMBL hostel open house. There were 8 stations, and we were running one of them (the winter-caretaker station). There was also amazing appetizers and charcuterie boards made by Matt Santor (who does those fancy meals for Eleven) as well as beer and wine, that even us running the event got to enjoy. Zach, Mary, and Ellis stopped by and Zach won the raffle. 

The other 3 caretakers stayed overnight at the hostel, but we have to have 1 caretaker in Gothic every night, so I skied out under a huge full moon. Definitely no need for a headlamp! I spent the evening drinking Chai tea, soaking my feet in my foot spa, watching Les Mis, and snuggling with Clawdia.

1/3

I skied 4 laps on Snodgrass with amazing snow and beautiful weather

1/4

Did 3 more great powder laps, with Elisha joining for 1 lap.

1/5

It snowed all day and I did 3 great powder laps on Snodgrass

1/6

Did 5 amazing powder laps! Such good snow. Elisha joined me for 3 of the laps.

1/7

Did 4 amazing powder laps on 4th bowl. Red Lady, the fox, funnily followed my tracks from the day before all the way up to Abby Lane.

1/8

More snow and more good powder laps on Snodgrass

1/9

Elisha and I had nice powder laps on Aspen Alley

1/10

Did a very early A.M. cross-country ski, breaking trail up the valley. It was COLD out. -16.3F was our low.

Some great powder laps on Snodgrass.

1/11

More awesome pow laps up on the Snodgrass saddle. Elisha joined for a couple today.

1/12

A bunch more powder laps off of the Snodgrass Saddle. Watched the 2 foxes this evening (Red Lady and Ash) court each other.

1/13

I skied some laps on Snodgrass and then we skied into town to play volleyball. We spent the night at the hostel as we had plans to shop in Gunnison the next day.

1/14

Shopped in Gunnison and did some other errands. I did a 5.5 mile run to get some exercise. We ate lunch at the newish Thai place before heading back to CB and skiing into Gothic

1/15

They groomed Gothic road overnight, so I did a skate ski early this a.m.

1/16

Benn and Sophia had us over for a delicious fondue meal and Elisha made homemade ice cream

1/17

A big sports day for me. In the morning I skied a lap on Snodgrass. Then watched the Gators beat #10 Vanderbilt. We then skied into town to watch the Broncos playoff game against the Bills at the Wooden Nickel which was serving 25 cent wings and $12 bucket of 6 beers. Tom Day also joined us. It was a very exciting game, with the Broncos winning in OT. It was fun to be at the bar with the crowd rooting and going wild for the Broncos. We skied home under beautiful starlit sky.

1/18

Jack Snow and friends are staying at Crystal, so I did a big ski tour with them (1st bowl, 2nd bowl, 3rd bowl, and 4th bowl on Snodgrass)

1/19

I did a big ski tour today skiing 2nd, 3rd, 4th, Abby, Baby Abby, and Saddle Bowls on Snodgrass. In the evening we got a special treat of some Auroras. Not the brightest we've had here, but we could still see them with the naked eye as a faint red glow.

1/20

I did a big tour with Bro (and his friend Miles) up Baldy. We skied a couple of steep chutes off of Baldy's ridge, including ******. On the way back we saw a young moose.

1/23

It started to snow pretty heavily and Elisha and I did a tour up towards the cliffs of Gothic in a cirque near the 403

1/24

A good powder day! We skied several laps in Aspen Alley

1/25

Very cold in the morning (-23F). I went out before sunrise and skied 3 laps on Snodgrass. We then skied into town to meet Bro and B-rad for 25c wings at the Wooden Nickel and to watch the Broncos in the AFC Championship game. It was a good game, with the Broncos unfortunately losing 10-7 having missed 2 field goals in the dumping snow in Denver.

1/26

I did a big ski tour up on the slopes of Mount Bellview. I saw a coyote up on the ridge while I was skiing.

1/27

I took Elisha on a beautiful ski tour up to the ridge of Baldy. We then skied some fun mellow lines back down to Gothic road.

1/28

I finished reading volume 1 of Sarah Airres "The Worst Journey in the World" graphic novel. This book was meaningful to me as I guided Sarah to Wilson's Igloo back when I worked for Environmental in Antarctica.

1/30

I skied out in the evening to stay at the RMBL hostel

1/31

Today was the big day of the Alley Loop! Perhaps my favorite event in Crested Butte. It's a ski race that starts and finishes through the alleys of town and then goes up the gorgeous Slate River Valley for the middle section. It's a costume party and an event all of the town comes out for. I dressed up in some bright colored 70's type clothes and raced the 10k freestyle (I skated). Elisha dressed as a unicorn, Zach as a banana, and Ellis as a giraffe. I ended up getting 5th overall for Men and 1st overall for the over 40 age group. 

There were some amazing costumes out there for the 5k in which everyone goes all out with their costumes. Benn and Sophia's group did a "business" group that made fun of the rich for destroying the valley and making life hard for the average American. There was a big group dressed up as Cam Smiths with Olympic rings and other things. Cam Smith is the Crested Butte Olympian who qualified in the ski mountaineering individual and relay races. There were lots of political messages regarding ICE. "More Snow, Less Ice" was a good sign. There were a group of moms pulling their babies in chariots with signs on the back of the chariots saying "I may take naps, but I'm still woke." There's a big downhill near the end that is fun to watch because there are quite a lot of big crashes.

After the race, Elisha went shopping to Gunnison and I went out and skated the nordic trails (you get a free nordic day pass with entry to the race) doing another 13 miles. It was amazing! I was skating around the town loop which has amazing views of the snowy mountains as the full moon was rising and the sun was setting and setting the peaks and clouds aglow in a blazing orange.

That night we went to the Almont Resort with Zach, Mary, and Ellis for an all you can eat Luau. Just what I needed after all my skiing! They had great poke and pulled pork amongst other things.